Inde-Nagaland

 

INEDIT 3 - INDE  NAGALAND

CHANT DES TRIBUS SEMA ET ZELIANG

SONGS OF THE SEMA AND ZELIANG TRIBES

Maison des Cultures du Monde, 1985, MCM 003

 When vocal polyphonies are mentionned we think almost immediately of Corsican, Georgian or Albanian polyphony. But this very ancient vocal practice is also present in other areas especially in Asia. There South China is one of the richest zone with Vietnam and Laos. Much less known is that part of India named Assam located between Bhutan, China, Burma and Bangladesh. There live different populations including the Naga speaking several dialects of the tibetan-burmese language family. They are Chistians since the British occupation which occurred in order to stop human sacrifices, head hunting and slavery practiced by some tribes. Nagaland became the 16th state of the Indian Union in 1963 with special status regarding the civil administration, criminal laws or the transmission of property.
For the first time in France and during the ''Year of India''  a group of Sema and Zeliang people were invited by Maison des Cultures du Monde in Paris for several concerts recorded on the 19th and 20th of September 1985. The Sema women and men sing separately while the Zeliang sing together on this album. There are mixed choirs as well among the Sema. The Sema  never use musical instruments when singing; they sing in thirds and in antiphony. 
The notes are in French only but I translated the titles.
There were 1500 items released my copy being numbered 0671.

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